Blowing Sparks
by Dantaron
Summary: In the clash on Jupiter Lighthouse, the heat of battle sparks something more… Cornered, trapped, Isaac and Ivan must fight to the death against the hellbent Agatio and Karst… but love springs up in the unlikeliest of places. IvanxKarst.


In both this fic and this pairing- which I have dubbed sparkshipping P- , I had help from two fellow authors and good friends, Sora G. Silverwind and Dracobolt. So I'll take this oppurtunity to credit them: Thanks, girls.

Disclaimer: Golden Sun is not my own, but property of Camelot software.

  
Chapter 1

_Ivan_

"Wow!" Ivan cried, as a particularly spectacular bolt of lightning split the air and struck the already-turmoiled sea, its violet light illuminating the darkest crevice for half a second. He was high in the crow's nest; one hand curled over the railing as the ship was buffeted by the winds.

He marvelled at the power of the storm, one that had seemingly blown out of nowhere. One minute, he and his companions were sailing through peaceful waters around the continent of Atteka; the next, the waves were towering over their ship and they were completely at the storm's mercy. Seemingly in seconds, the clear blue sky had filled with dark storm clouds and unleashed the awesome might of a thunderstorm.

Not that he minded. In fact, he loved it… but Isaac and Garet, poor souls, weren't born Jupiter Adepts. Mia had at least some comfort in the drenching deluge.

The wind howled around the ship with animal ferocity, whipping around the bow and stern to come back at the mast with twice the momentum. The boat swayed dangerously, yet he leaned over even more, loving the feeling of wind in his hair.

"Ivan, you better come down!" Mia called up, her clothes wet and her hair bedraggled. She was standing outside the cabin door, one hand ready to push it open at any moment. She tilted her head back to get a good look at the Jupiter Adept and was biting her lip, a habit of her's that she falls back to when she's worried.

"Don't worry Mia!" Ivan shouted over the roar of the raging wind. "I'm in my element!"  
She poked her head back through the cabin door for a few moments, and then came back out. "Isaac says if you don't come down, we're locking you in the wardrobe! Come down!" Mia's voice cracked anxiously on the last words.

He sighed resignedly. "Goodbye, fair wind. I hoped to stay longer, but my earthy friends call." He mimed blowing a kiss to some unseen entity, and swung over onto the ladder, raking his gaze on last time to the west, where the outline of Atteka could faintly be seen through the curtain of rain. The cliffs were tall and imposing, though there was a sandy beach just down the coast, where the fifty-foot walls of stone suddenly broke off into a wide expanse of sand.

The Jupitarian quickly clambered down the ladder, but a loud _crack_ made him pause halfway down. The wind was wilder than ever, and the ship was being tossed about on twenty-foot waves like a ragdoll. Mia was clinging onto the door below, staring up at the blonde with wide eyes.

With paralysing slowness, a small crack appeared in the mast below his hands. Hardly believing what he was seeing, Ivan hung off the ladder in disbelief as the whole thing shuddered, and ripped from the rest of the ship. The bars were wrenched from his hands, and he tottered off-balance, swinging with only his feet on the ladder.

"Ivan!" Mia shouted from below, frightened.

Ivan extended his Psynergy and tried to control the winds, but it was an extremely hard task. They were too full of raw elemental energy for his control to have much influence, but he managed to calm them for a second or two in his immediate vicinity. Taking advantage of the moment, he jumped off the ladder and allowed himself to fall to the deck.

He landed on something soft and lumpy, and looked down. He was sitting on a mass of blue and white that looked strangely familiar…

"Mia! I'm so sorry!" He leapt off the poor girl's back, apologizing profusely. He extended his hand down and helped her to her feet, asking her if she was okay. She looked worn ragged; both wet from being in the downpour and frazzled from Ivan landing on her. She chuckled wryly.

"Don't worry about it, Ivan. Just come inside." She opened the door and was half inside when Ivan stopped her.

"Wait. Look ahead, to the west." Ivan said, gripping the railing to prevent from being buffeted by the wind.

Mia came up and stood beside him, hands lightly circling the rail. "What is it?"

He turned to her, his expression serious. "We're heading straight for the cliffs."

It was true. Slowly but surely, the waves were forcing them ashore, and they didn't care if it was on soft sand or unforgiving rock.

Mia bit her lip, and nodded. "I'll get Isaac and Garet."

"We're already here," a voice said behind her, and she turned to the two other Adepts of their little group.

"Isaac-" Ivan began, but Isaac cut him off.

"I know, Ivan. But with this storm driving us forward, there's not much we can do to prevent being driven around. The least we can do is beach ourselves on the sandbar, so we will still have a ship to sail. Ivan, I need you to stand with me on the prow and watch our course. Garet, come with me, the tiller's going to be hard to turn in this weather and I'll need your help. Mia," he paused in mid-sentence. "Do whatever you can to help."

Garet saluted cockily. "Whatever you say, oh fearless leader."

They each went to their positions. Ivan jumped over the railing and leaned on the dragonhead prow, looking out to the cliff with the sharp vision of the Jupiter Adepts. Garet manhandled the tiller, while Isaac stood by and directed him. Mia sat cross-legged on the deck, her eyes closed as she channelled Psynergy into the ship.

But the ship rushed onward, and Garet was wheeled the tiller frantically to avoid the shoals. The ship floundered helplessly, and Ivan found himself dangling from the dragon's claws with his hands. The next time the ship dipped he swung into the motion and flipped himself back up, and resumed staring intently at the cliff, which was now a mere fifty meters distant.

His gaze raked the coastline, searching for some alternative to the destructive cliffs. The constant waves had pushed them far from the sandy shore, and now there were only the cliffs to be seen. But then…

He leaned closer, probing a section of the cliff intently, where there was a deep shadow, darker than the ones around it. Only about ten feet high, but perhaps… It was a possibility, one that could save them. But if he was wrong…

"Isaac!" He called over his shoulder. "Cave, five degrees to starboard. Aim for it!"

Isaac walked forward to look for himself, but Mia suddenly stood, her face troubled. "Go for it," she said in a high-pitched voice.

"Mia? Are you okay?" Isaac said, concerned.

"Look," she said, her throat dry. She pointed to the rocks, where the water was suddenly receding as if some plug had been pulled out to sea. The waves grew smaller, and the ship grazed the ocean floor for a moment as the sea level dropped drastically. "See those signs? Those all point to one thing only, something feared by every man and woman of the sea."

Isaac turned. "What?"

Her next words sent a bolt of fear through all of them.

"Tidal wave."

As if her words were a cue, it hit. The ship was sucked out to sea as the last surge of water was drawn to form a swirling wall of water nearly a hundred feet high. For a moment, the four Adepts just stared open-mouthed at the tsunami bearing down on them.

The ship was borne on the crest of the wave and hurled towards the cliffs, timber grinding and creaking as it rode the wave on its belly at a ninety-degree angle, face down. All unsecured objects, including the four teens, slid to the front of the boat. Ivan hung by his hands off the dragon's snout, screaming. They all were, in fact.

Garet, spray blasting in his face, wrenched the wheel hard to the right, which only succeeded in turning the boat on its side. The boat kept on turning and hurtled towards the shore backwards, the gravity force pressing them flat to the boards. Their screams melded into one collective yell.

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"

And then they hit, and all went black.

_Karst_

She sat on the rail of the ship, one leg crossed over the other, scythe across her lap and whetstone in one hand. She ran the sharpening stone along the edge, watching as the dullness fell from the blade and left it razor sharp and as good as new. Her mouth was spread in a predatory grin, her eyes unfocused as she daydreamed.

"_Isaac," she said silkily, walking across a grassy plain towards her enemy. _She had never seen him, but she took bits and pieces of gossip from villagers the Venus Adept had visited and pieced them together and came up with the image of a man, tall and broad, with wild blond hair, bulging muscles, and fierce blue eyes. No wimp, to be sure, if he beat her sister, but not strong enough to survive her bloodlust.

In this daydream, she caught him alone from his friends while he was searching for firewood.

_Isaac's eyes registered confusion and apprehension as he watched the approaching _femme fatale. _She was a sight, at any rate. Light leather armour and a short skirt, dark blue shoulder guards from which twin ribbons trailed. High boots, and a massive mane of maroon hair worthy of the name Proxian. Her eyes burned with a crimson fire, and her lips were half-parted to reveal pointed teeth. She spun her scythe lazily as she approached, taking careful, measured steps._

"_I've been waiting for this moment for too long, Isaac." She went on, grinning widely now. "I swore long ago that the last thing Isaac of Vale would see is Karst avenging the death of her dear sister."_

_Dream-Isaac's eyes widened with fear, and he began to quiver in terror. "Y-you're Menardi's sister? You must be, you share her same beauty and deadly grace."_ Karst smiled at that, as she wasn't averse to a compliment every now and then.

"_I am," she purred. "I cannot believe Menardi, or even Saturos, was slain by a coward like you. It should never have happened. So I'm going to set things straight and fix the outcome to what it should have been. So, Isaac," she set her teeth against each other. "Time to die."_

_She sprinted towards the terror-struck Adept, swung her scythe with all her might and- _

"Karst. Karst, wake up." Agatio grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her, none too gently.

Her eyes snapped open and she lashed out with her nails, raking the talon-like points across Agatio's forearm, leaving trails of red blood. "Don't. Touch. Me." She said icily, and stood defiantly to all of her five foot six height. "Go away, Agatio. Leave me alone.

He chuckled menacingly and stepped closer. "Aw, I'm a scaring little Karstie?"

She planted her feet apart and glared at him. "If Menardi were still alive you wouldn't even _think_ of saying that!" She quivered a bit at mentioned her late sister, but tried not to show it.

He scowled. "So what? I only came out to tell you we're heading for Contigo, on the trail of _Isaac_." He emphasized the last word, and Karst shivered involuntarily with anticipation.

He smiled friendlily, trying to patch things up between them. "Or, at least according to Mr. I'm-So-Perfect in there," he jerked his them back towards the cabin. "He's been cooped up down there for the past week or so, reading. Mercurian bastard."

"He thinks he's better than us just because he's a Water Adept," Karst said scathingly, warming to one of her favourite topics: Making Fun of Alex. "And that haircut makes him look like a girl."

Agatio jabbed his thumb at his muscular chest. "You wouldn't catch us Proxian men with a haircut like that."

Karst nodded, and passed her fingers through her hair. "All will be revealed in time," she quoted, lowering her voice to the suave tone Alex usually employs, though she couldn't quite match his tenor.

Agatio rumbled his laughter and took her by the shoulders. "Listen, Karst. We've chased this Isaac here and there all across the Eastern Sea. Now that we're close on his trail at last, more than ever we need to work together. So we can't have disorder between us."

"Except during sparring," Karst reminded him, and tapped her scythe.

Agatio smiled. "Of course. Keep your skills as sharp as your blade, Karst."

The Proxian ship sailed of its own accord, sidling into the narrow pass between the imposing walls of Gondowan Cliffs. It rocked gently from side to side, avoiding boulders just beneath the surface by a precarious margin.

Karst and Agatio leaned on the railing side by side, each looking ahead down the canyon and Agatio spitting to pass the time. Karst tried to mimic him, but without much success.

Agatio stopped for a moment, and craned his head over the railing to look down the water. "Say, Karst. Remember that massive boulder that stopped us from returning to the Western Sea?"

"Yes," Karst said, leaning forward as well. "It stopped us from returning to Prox to report."

"Well, it's gone," Agatio said, as if he didn't quite believe it. "Go tell Alex. He'll be interested."

Karst looked ahead and whistled. The rock had disappeared, almost as if by magic.

Or Psynergy, which is more likely. Karst thought, grinning cruelly as she pushed open the cabin door and stalked towards Alex. She slammed her hands down on the desk, and Alex looked up at her calmly.

"Yes, Karst?"

She flicked him in the forehead with a finger, much to his annoyance. "Come on, Imilian. Agatio wants to show you something that he thinks you'll like."

Alex stood and bowed. "At your command, Lady Karst."

She scowled. "Just come on, Alex."

She force-marched him through the door, and as the sunlight fell on her face, she stretched and smiled.

Isaac, she thought. We're coming.


End file.
